Acidity in human sweat is an example of _____.
A) cell-mediated immune responses
B) acquired immunity
C) adaptive immunity
D) innate immunity
Which of the following is true of enzymes?
A) Enzyme function is increased if the 3- D structure or conformation of an enzyme is
altered.
B) Enzyme function is independent of physical and chemical environmental factors
such as pH and temperature.
C) Enzymes increase the rate of chemical reaction by lowering activation energy
barriers.
D) Enzymes increase the rate of chemical reaction by providing activation energy to the
substrate.
Corneal surgery is now routinely performed to change the shape of the cornea and
improve vision. This surgery is beneficial because it _____.
A) improves the circulation of nutrients to the eye
B) improves the focusing of light onto the retina
C) decreases the amount of light entering the eye
D) increases the sensitivity of the photoreceptors
If you gently bend your ear, and then let go, the shape of your ear will return because
the cartilage of your ear contains_____.
A) collagenous fibers
B) elastic fibers
C) reticular fibers
D) adipose tissue
If a horticulturist breeding gardenias succeeds in having a single plant with a
particularly desirable set of traits, which of the following would be her most probable
and efficient route to establishing a line of such plants?
A) Backtrack through her previous experiments to obtain another plant with the same
traits.
B) Breed this plant with another plant with much weaker traits.
C) Clone the plant.
D) Force the plant to self-pollinate to obtain an identical one.
What is gene annotation in bioinformatics?
A) finding transcriptional start and stop sites, RNA splice sites, and ESTs in DNA
sequences
B) assigning names to newly discovered genes
C) describing the functions of noncoding regions of the genome
D) matching the corresponding phenotypes of different species
A billionaire buys a sterile volcanic island that recently emerged from the sea. To speed
the arrival of conditions necessary for plant growth, the billionaire might be advised to
aerially sow what over the island?
A) basidiospores
B) spores of ectomycorrhizae
C) soredia
D) yeasts
The most immediate potential benefits of introducing genetically modified crops
include _____.
I) creating crops that can grow on land previously unsuitable for agriculture
II) creating crops with better potential for biofuel production
III) creating crops with better nutritional attributes
IV) increasing crop yield
V) decreasing the mutation rate of certain genes
A) only II, III, and IV
B) only I, II, III, and IV
C) only III, IV, and V
D) I, II, III, IV, and V
Lymphocytes mature in the _____.
I) spleen
II) thymus
III) bone marrow
A) only I and III
B) only I and II
C) only II and III
D) I, II, and III
Burning fossil fuels releases oxides of sulfur and nitrogen. These air pollutants can be
responsible for _____.
I) the death of fish in lakes
II) precipitation with a pH as low as 3.0
III) eutrophication of lakes
A) only I
B) only II
C) only III
D) only I and II
A hybrid zone is properly defined as _____.
A) an area where the ranges of two closely related species overlap, but do not
interbreed
B) an area where mating occurs between members of two closely related species,
producing viable offspring
C) a zone where sterile hybrids form, kept separate by postzygotic barriers
D) an area where members of two closely related species intermingle, but gene flow is
prevented by prezygotic barriers
In addition to seeds, which of the following characteristics is unique to the
seed-producing plants?
A) sporopollenin
B) lignin present in cell walls
C) pollen
D) megaphylls
Healthy individuals of Paramecium bursaria contain photosynthetic algal
endosymbionts of the genus Chlorella. When within their hosts, the algae are referred to
as zoochlorellae. In aquaria with light coming from only one side, P. bursaria gather at
the well-lit side, whereas other species of Paramecium gather at the opposite side. The
zoochlorellae provide their hosts with glucose and oxygen, and P. bursaria provides its
zoochlorellae with protection and motility. P. bursaria can lose its zoochlorellae in two
ways: (1) if kept in darkness, the algae will die; and (2) if prey items (mostly bacteria)
are absent from its habitat, P. bursaria will digest its zoochlorellae.
A P. bursaria cell that has lost its zoochlorellae is aposymbiotic. If aposymbiotic cells
have population growth rates the same as those of healthy, zoochlorella-containing P.
bursaria in well-lit environments with plenty of prey items, then such an observation
would be consistent with which type of relationship?
A) parasitic
B) commensalistic
C) toxic
D) mutualistic
Which of the following are similar in structure to cholesterol?
A) leptin and serotonin
B) luteinizing hormone and insulin
C) melanocyte-stimulating hormone and vasopressin
D) testosterone, estradiol, and cortisol
Which of the following is responsible for nearly 100,000 human deaths worldwide
every year?
A) Entamoeba histolytica
B) Amoeba proteus
C) plasmodial slime molds
D) Dictyostelium discoideum
The velocity of blood flow is the lowest in capillaries because _____.
A) the capillaries have internal valves that slow the flow of blood
B) the diastolic blood pressure is too low to deliver blood to the capillaries at a high
flow rate
C) the systemic capillaries are supplied by the left ventricle, which has a lower cardiac
output than the right ventricle
D) the total cross-sectional area of the capillaries is greater than the total cross-sectional
area of the arteries or any other part of the circulatory system
Refer to the following figure, which diagrams the reproductive anatomy of the human
male, to answer the question(s) below.
In the above figure, which letter points to the vas deferens?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D
Excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) produced nearly simultaneously by different
synapses on the same postsynaptic neuron can also add together, creating _____.
A) a temporal summation
B) a spatial summation
C) a tetanus
D) the refractory state
Arrange the following in order from largest to smallest.
1. ascospore
2. ascocarp
3. ascomycete
4. ascus
A) 3 → 2 → 4 → 1
B) 3 → 4 → 1 → 2
C) 2 → 3 → 4 → 1
D) 2 → 4 → 1 → 3
Lipids _____.
A) are insoluble in water
B) are made from glycerol, fatty acids, and nitrogen
C) contain less energy than proteins and carbohydrates
D) are made by dehydration reactions
Cephalization, the clustering of neurons and interneurons in the anterior part of the
animal, is apparent in _____.
A) cnidarians
B) Planaria
C) sea stars
D) invertebrate animals with radial symmetry
The eight climographs below show yearly temperature (line graph and left vertical axis)
and precipitation (bar graph and right vertical axis) averages for each month for some
locations on Earth.
Which climograph shows the climate for location 1?
A) A
B) C
C) E
D) H
A glycosidic linkage is analogous to which of the following in proteins?
A) an amino group
B) a peptide bond
C) a disulfide bond
D) a β-pleated sheet
In which of the following situations would you expect to find the largest number of
K-selected individuals?
A) a recently abandoned agricultural field in Ohio
B) a shifting sand dune community of south Lake Michigan
C) an old-growth forest
D) South Florida after a hurricane
Short-term memory information processing usually causes changes in the _____.
A) brainstem
B) medulla
C) hypothalamus
D) hippocampus
To maintain homeostasis freshwater fish must _____.
A) excrete large quantities of electrolytes
B) consume large quantities of water
C) excrete large quantities of water
D) take in electrolytes through simple diffusion
Hawaii is the most southeastern of the seven largest islands and is also closest to the
sea-floor spreading center from which the Pacific plate originates, which lies about
5600 km further to the southeast. Assuming equal sedimentation rates, what should be
the location of the thickest sediment layer and, thus, the area with the greatest diversity
of fossils above the oceanic crust?
A) between the island of Hawaii and the sea-floor spreading center
B) around the base of the island of Hawaii
C) around the base of Kauai, the oldest of the large Hawaiian islands
D) where the islands are most concentrated (highest number of islands per unit surface
area)
Which of these activities is part of the development of crop plants from wild relatives?
I) people planting seeds of the plants with the characteristic wanted
II) people making observations of desired plant characteristics
III) people eating products from only the plants with desired characteristics
IV) people developing several varieties of crops from a wild relative
A) I and II
B) I and IV
C) I, III, and IV
D) I, II, and IV
You have a small tree in your yard that is the height that you want it, but does not have
as many branches as you want. How can you prune it to trigger it to increase the
number of branches?
A) Cut off the leaves at the ends of several branches.
B) Cut off the tips of the main shoots.
C) Cut off lower branches.
D) Cut off the leaves at the base of most of the branches.
Which of the following statements about independent assortment and segregation is
correct?
A) The law of independent assortment requires describing two or more genes relative to
one another.
B) The law of segregation requires describing two or more genes relative to one
another.
C) The law of independent assortment is accounted for by observations of prophase I.
D) The law of segregation is accounted for by anaphase of mitosis.
Which of the following is a true statement regarding mineral nutrients in soils and their
implication for primary productivity?
A) Globally, phosphorous availability is most limiting to primary productivity.
B) Adding a nonlimiting nutrient will stimulate primary productivity.
C) Phosphorous is sometimes unavailable to producers due to leaching.
D) Alkaline soils are more productive than acidic soils.
The common ancestors of birds and mammals were very early (stem) reptiles, which
almost certainly possessed three-chambered hearts (two atria, one ventricle). Birds and
mammals, however, are alike in having four-chambered hearts (two atria, two
ventricles). The four-chambered hearts of birds and mammals are best described as
_____.
A) structural homologies
B) vestiges
C) homoplasies
D) the result of shared ancestry
The Brazil nut tree, Bertholletia excels (n = 17), is native to tropical rain forests of
South America. It is a hardwood tree that can grow to over 50 meters tall, is a source of
high-quality lumber, and is a favorite nesting site for harpy eagles. As the rainy season
ends, tough-walled fruits, each containing 8-25 seeds (Brazil nuts), fall to the forest
floor. Brazil nuts are composed primarily of endosperm. About $50 million worth of
nuts are harvested each year. Scientists have discovered that the pale yellow flowers of
Brazil nut trees cannot fertilize themselves and admit only female orchid bees as
pollinators. The agouti (Dasyprocta spp.), a cat-sized rodent, is the only animal with
teeth strong enough to crack the hard wall of Brazil nut fruits. It typically eats some of
the seeds, buries others, and leaves still others inside the fruit, which moisture can now
enter. The uneaten seeds may subsequently germinate.
People who attempted to plant Brazil nuts in hopes of establishing plantations of Brazil
nut trees played roles most similar to those of _____.
A) agoutis
B) orchid bees
C) pollen tubes
D) harpy eagles
Biological systems use free energy based on empirical data that all organisms require a
constant energy input. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can be neither
created nor destroyed. For living organisms, which of the following statements is an
important consequence of this first law?
A) The energy content of an organism is constant except for when its cells are dividing.
B) The organism must ultimately obtain all the necessary energy for life from its
environment.
C) The entropy of an organism decreases with time as the organism grows in
complexity.
D) Organisms are unable to transform energy from the different states in which it can
exist.